The Funeral
by EtichaErix
Summary: Harry's 22 years old, and he and his friends stands in front of a big catastrophe - Lord Voldemort is stronger than never before, and then they loose two they hold near.
1. Default Chapter

Harry stared at the graves in front of him. He could barely see through the tears trickling their way down his cheeks. He couldn't take his eyes from the names on the gravestone. Arthur and Molly Weasley. Behind him, he could hear Ginny sobbing hysterically. He didn't have to look to his side to see that Ron was crying too. He wiped off the tears from his cheeks, and then turned around, facing Ron.

"I'm so sorry, Ron," he said. "Your parents were the best people I've ever known."

It seemed as though Ron couldn't hear him. With a heavy sigh, Harry turned to face Ginny and Hermione. Ginny stood with her face in her hands, crying. Hermione had her arms around her, trying to comfort her. Large tears trickled down Hermione's cheeks too, but she seemed to have it under control.

"How's Ron?" she asked silently. "I'd like to talk to him, but I don't wont to leave her here all alone." Harry nodded.

"I'll take her," he said and reached out a hand towards Ginny. "Come on, Ginny, it's going to be alright." He doubted it himself, as Mr and Mrs Weasley had served as his own parents for so long. All those summers that he had spent with Ron and his family in The Burrow, and now – that chance was gone.

Harry, Ron and Hermione had ended Hogwarts a couple of years earlier, and they had continued to fight Lord Voldemort. Although Harry knew better than putting Ron and Hermione to any danger, he also knew better than to tell them no. But he had tried to talk the Weasleys out of it.

"Please, Mrs Weasley!" he heard his own voice echoing inside his aching head. "Please, don't go, I'm sure that they will manage without you both." Molly Weasley had shaken her head violently, and said with a choked voice:

"Harry, dear, you don't understand. Too many people have been killed; Tonks and Sirius, and Percy... Please, don't ask me to stay away." She hugged him tightly and then walked out of the kitchen with her head held high.

Knowing far better than to walk after her, Harry had had a strange feeling in his chest; it came almost close to be a son loving his mother. But it had been too late. Mr Weasley had said goodbye to them, and Mrs Weasley had simply kissed them on the cheek and hugged them.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were twenty – two years old, and they knew perfectly well how to look after themselves. Ginny was now twenty-one; she had left Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry five years earlier. She had ended the school as the last Weasley of her generation attending there, and since the trio had left the school one year before, she felt that she had nothing more to do there. Fred and George were now twenty-four years of age, and run their shop very well indeed. Having now earned over three thousand Galleons, they had taken a little vacation to celebrate. They had gathered at the Burrow: Harry, the whole Weasley family – except for Percy – and Hermione. They discussed the matter of the Order of the Phoenix, and what they should do. Suddenly, during pudding, the doorbell had rung and Charlie went to open the door. He came back with Minerva McGonagall.

"Minerva!" said Arthur surprised and jumped to his feet, so did Molly. "What on earth...?" Professor McGonagall – she would never be anything else but that to Harry – interrupted him.

"Arthur, Molly, I have to talk to you." She looked around at them, and nodded.

"I guess that you would like to hear it too?" Fred got to his feet and laid an arm around his mother's shoulders.

"What do you want them to do, Professor?" he asked, and his eyes were suspicious.

"It has to do with the Order, mr Weasley," Minerva said. "I suppose that we cannot take this in privacy?" she added, turning to Mr and Mrs Weasley.

Harry stood up.

"What is it that you can't tell us, Professor? I hope it's nothing extremely dangerous -"

Minerva shuddered.

"Harry, sit down," Hermione said and pulled him down again. "You too, Fred." Fred looked at her with mild indignation, but his mother said the same.

"Yes, please, Fred, sit down. And hopefully, you too, Minerva?" "Professor McGonagall shook her head.

"No, Molly, I do have to get back to London. It's a total mess there, not even Albus thinks we can sort it out this time..."

They all withdrew their breath, and she looked around with a steady gaze.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is so. Dumbledore has told me to gather the remaining members of the Order, and take them all to London. We have to do something, and the first place to start, is at the Ministry of Magic." Harry looked sternly at his old Head of House.

"We are all members of the Order, Professor. Why did you not want to speak with us all?"

"Please, Potter, you have to understand. We need the ones from the old days. Even if I'm sure that Albus would love to have his Army with him again, you have spread with the winds."

Harry turned to Ron.

"I know Neville Longbottom's whereabouts," he said. "And didn't you say that you had contact with Luna Lovegood and the others?" Ron smiled.

"Yeah, I did."

McGonagall stared at them for a moment, then she snorted.

"Weasley, Potter, Granger, how much I do admire your guts, I doubt that your parents will let this happen to you."

Harry lifted an eyebrow.

"My parents are not alive, Minerva. And my life is mine to waste." Harry noticed that they all stared at him.

"Well, isn't it?" he said furiously. "McGonagall, I am an adult, and so are my friends. I don't think that we'll end up in more trouble than we've ever done before. Fighting Lord Voldemort has been hard, we've all lost someone close."

"Yes, Minerva," Molly interrupted, "Harry is quite right. We lost Percy, and the Order lost Tonks, Sirius, James and Lily. You cannot blame him – or them, for that matter – to want to interfere." Mr Weasley took a deep breath.

"What do you want us to do?" he finally said. "We alone, not the children."

Minerva shot a grateful glance at him, and lowered her voice.

"As I said before, we all need to gather in London. We will do a... "

The rest of the plan disappeared as McGonagall lowered her voice yet again. Harry couldn't hear it, nor could the twins or the rest of the Weasley family. Hermione simply didn't want to listen. She held her arms around her, as though she was freezing. Ron's elder brother, Bill, suddenly said to Harry:

"I'm not sure that I want mum and dad to do this." Surprised, Harry looked at him.

"Eh... what do you mean?" he said quietly.

"If mum and dad end up being hurt or even worse, dead, then I don't think I want anything more to do with the Order."

"But it's for a good cause." Harry protested. Charlie looked up at him; he had been following their conversation.

"Do you think that about your mum and dad?" he asked. Harry found himself in an awkward situation, not being able to go back or forth.

"Well...er..." He hesitated. "No, I don't think I do."

There was an strange, forced silence, because McGonagall had stopped talking, and Molly and Arthur had a look of hate and despite on their faces, but yet determination.

"Er... so?" George asked his parents. "What're you going to do?" Everybody around the table, including professor McGonagall, stared at Ron's parents.

Mr Weasley finally spoke after he'd exchanged looks with his wife.

"Yes, Minerva, we'll take the job." McGonagall looked both worried and relieved, the two expressions fighting to get the most space in her face.

"Are you sure?" she asked, as though regretting what she had asked them to do. "We could find someone else."

Molly answered.

"No, Minerva, we must gather the Order again, before the Dark Lord gets to high up. It's time to start."

Harry stared at them, as though he didn't understand what they were saying.

"Are you kidding?" he said, looking at them. "You must be!"

They all looked at him, the Weasley – children going slightly white.

"No, you can't! You don't know how it's like to be there with him! Please, don't do it, I can do it instead, he already wants me dead!" Harry turned to McGonagall, who stared at him with the expression of greatest shock upon her face.

"Please, Professor, I can do it! I don't care if I die, because I'm alone, but Mr and Mrs Weasley have Ron and Ginny, and Fred and George and Bill and Charlie to take care of. Please, Professor!" Molly Weasley looked as though she'd just got one of the biggest shocks of her life.

"Oh my dear Harry," she said, pulling him into a tight hug. "It's not about that. It's about the old Order being put together again."

Harry couldn't answer that. Yes, he wanted Mr and Mrs Weasley alive, but at the same time, he wanted to see what was left of the order together once more. If they were going to loose against Lord Voldemort, they could at least do it with some style.

He lowered his head and refused to meet the worried looks that Hermione and Ron threw at him.

"Harry," Professor McGonagall said, and the tone in her voice made him look up. "I swear, that if it hadn't been for the fact that Molly and Arthur were in the Order, I would never ask them to risk their lives this way. But when the Order was founded in the 1970s, we swore to do whatever we could to bring Lord Voldemort on his knees."

Harry nodded.

"I know that, Professor."

Professor McGonagall looked on the Weasley-children, who all looked slightly white. Ron had an arm around Hermione's waist, but he didn't seem to notice it. Hermione leaned against him, and Harry suddenly thought; "They would make a great couple." Then McGonagall spoke again, and Harry strained his ears.

"Shall I take your silence as a respond?" All of them looked at each other, but it was Bill who finally said the words they all had feared to say.

"Yes, Professor. It's okay for us."


	2. The Terrible News

It took the Weasley children a while to settle with the thought that their parents were off fighting Lord Voldemort. Harry sat often by the kitchen table next to Ron, almost worried sick about Ron's parents. Hermione, who came by about a dozen times per week, always looked at Harry when she came in through the door. If Harry nodded, the Weasleys were still alive. Then Hermione would come in, hug both Ron and Harry, and then sit down to drink a cup of tea with them, discussing the problems about the fight with Voldemort. None of them ever mentioned Ron's parents.

About two weeks from the day that Arthur and Molly Weasley had left the Burrow, all the Weasley children were home. Both Harry and Hermione were there. They all sat in the living room, talking. Drinking his tea, Harry felt warm, but still worried. What if the Weasleys were dead, but no one knew?

"Wonder what Dumbledore's doing." Everyone turned to look as Fred. He had been sitting watching the old Grandfather clock.

"Why?" Bill asked, running his hand though his red hair. It was almost as untidy as Harry's now; because Bill ran his hand though his hair at least on time an hour. Fred looked up at his older brother, and shook his head.

"I mean what McGonagall said. What it Dumbledore really don't know what to do?"

Ron shuddered.

"I dunno, Fred… But I believe that Dumbledore knows what to do." Neither Fred nor Bill said anything. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other.

"Come on!" Harry said. "Don't be so down." George almost threw himself over him.

"Don't say that!" he shouted. "It's not your parents who's out there fighting that monster!"

Charlie, Fred, Ron and Bill grabbed him by the arms and pulled him backwards. Hermione was pearly white. Ginny looked shocked at her older brother, but glanced quickly at Harry.

Harry was pale, but his eyes were almost black.

"No, you're right, George. My parents died because of him twenty-one years ago." He got to his feet. "But I'm getting used to it now."

"Grow up, Harry!" George yelled. "Don't sound like a tragic hero, because you're not! You're just someone who survived the Killing Curse!"

"Well, yeah, you're right, George," Harry said calmly. "I don't want to be a tragic hero. It's just one problem: Everyone treats me as if I was!"

"Idiots." Someone muttered. Both Harry and George flung around and stared at Charlie.

"Excuse me?" George said. "What did you call us?"

"Idiots," Charlie said, and his voice was dangerously calm. "I don't see any reason to why you two are behaving like this."

"He called me a tragic hero," Harry said.

"He insulted me," George mumbled. Charlie shook his head.

"You are both childish. For God's sake, we're all worried about dad and mum, but you two actually start fighting because of it. You're more than twenty years old, both of you, can't you behave?"

Harry sat down and stared at the Grandfather clock.

"Sorry, Charlie," he said.

George stared at his older brother for a moment, then he turned around and walked to the table to pour himself a cup of tea.

"Yeah, me too, Charlie," he said in a dull voice. A single tear came down his cheek.

"I just can't take it! Mum and Dad can be dead right now, and we can't do anything!" He started to cry. Hermione got to her feet and embraced him. He cried, his shoulders were shaking.

"George…" Hermione said in a calming voice. Please… don't cry." George's brothers stared shocked at them, but Ginny came to her feet too and hugged her older brother.

"George, we have to be strong right now. Don't cry." Fred shook his head.

"This must be the first time I see George cry." Ron stared at him in amazement.

"He must have cried before this!" Fred looked at him with a sad smile on his face.

"No, actually not. We're not that kind, you know." George looked up at them and wiped the tears off his face.

"I don't think I've ever seen you cry either, Fred." The twins looked at each other for a moment.

"No, perhaps not," Fred said calmly. Charlie threw a questioning glance at Bill, who nodded.

"I've never thought about it," Bill said and frowned, "but when I think of it, the only time I've heard you cry, was when Charlie took your broomsticks when you were about five." He smiled. "God, you cried."

Harry sat looking at the Grandfather clock. Suddenly two of the golden hands started to move.

"Hang on," he said. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What's the matter, Harry?" Charlie said. "Is it your scar?"

"It's the Grandfather clock," Harry breathed. "Look." Eight pair of eyes followed the two golden hands when they slowly travelled around the face of the clock.

"I wonder where they will stop?" Ron mumbled. Suddenly, they stopped.

"Oh God," Bill whispered. George started to cry again. Fred looked down at his hands. Ginny and Hermione hugged each other and Ron and Charlie looked at the clock as though they refused to believe it. Harry had trouble breathing.

The two golden hands with the names Mr Weasley and Mrs Weasley had stopped on "mortal peril".


	3. The Churchyard

**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Ginny Weasley stood still in front of her parents graves. It was hard to believe that they had lived just a few weeks ago. She wiped a tear from her face; she didn't want the young man next to her to think that she was crying. Of course, she would have any rights to cry – but somehow she didn't want to show her weakness in front of him. Looking down at the graves, she read the inscriptions once more.

"Molly and Arthur Weasley, beloved parents and friends." And then the dates of their births and death. The date, the 16th of July, would forever be a mark in her heart. The day when her mum and dad were killed. She couldn't help it. With a sob she burst out into tears. The young man next to her hastily looked at her, unsure of what to do. He turned to her, after a moment of hesitating, he embraced her softly. Ginny cried even more.

"I said… I wouldn't cry", she sobbed into his robe, "but I can't …" The young man lifted up her chin and looked straight into her eyes.

"Ginny, you're only human. When your parents die… it's okay to cry." She looked up at him.

"I didn't see you cry when your parents died", she whispered. He stiffened, but then said with an easy voice:

"You didn't see me when I was crying."

"Or, you didn't cry at all." Ginny wiped the tears off her face and smiled weakly. "If I didn't know better, I'd thought you had no heart at all."

"Well, Gin", he said with a glitter in his eyes, "I do have feelings. It's just that… my parents and I – even though I tried to keep up a good façade in front of the other students – weren't exactly the best of friends. When Dad died, I couldn't cry at all. And when Mum died… let's just say that I was just like you were right now." Ginny frowned.

"I have trouble with seeing that, Draco", she admitted. "But… Where are your parents buried? I wasn't on the funeral." He nodded slowly.

"No, I saw that…. They're… they're buried on the churchyard near the manor…" Ginny shook her head.

"I would never make it, Draco. I… I don't know what to do, anymore." She turned away from him. "I have to go now. I'm supposed to meet Harry and Ron outside."

"They won't go in here?"

"_Ron_ won't go in here. Fred and George were here last night. Bill and Charlie are back on their places… Bill in Egypt again… and Charlie's still in Romania."

"How are Fred and George taking it?"

"George cries every night."

"And Fred?"

"He doesn't cry at all. He... he just sits there… He cried on the funeral… That's all." Ginny started to cry again.

"I can't stand it! Why can't he cry?"

"Some people don't cry, Ginny."

Ginny didn't look at him. Draco felt his heart falling in his chest like a heavy rock.

"Ginny…" he said. "Come." He embraced her softly, but she stood stiff as a tree, not crying anymore.

"Ginny, what's the matter with you?" Draco said worriedly. "This isn't healthy for you. Come on, I'll take you home." Ginny turned away from him, staring at her parent's grave.

"No", she said. "I'm not leaving. Not until…"

"Until what?" Draco repeated softly. "Until what, Gin? Until you fall apart, until you die, or until you've realised that they're dead?" Ginny started to shake uncontrollably, her face white as one of the Hogwarts' ghosts, and then she said with a stifled voice:

"I don't know, Draco. I… I'm going in circles around myself." He nodded silently, his grey eyes full of compassion and another feeling Ginny couldn't identify. He leaned towards her.

"Ginny?" Both Ginny and Draco jumped and turned around hastily. Harry was walking up one of the aisles.

"Oh… hello, Draco", Harry said and nodded towards him. "It's nice to see you."

"Hello Harry", Draco said. He turned to Ginny. "Well, Gin, then I can leave you here with Harry." Ginny nodded and looked away from him. Draco felt a stitch in his heart when he saw it. He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. Then he looked at Harry, and walked slowly up the aisle. Ginny stood still, wanted to run after him and talk with him, but the small moment was over. She felt a lonely ache inside her chest. She had already lost so many – would she loose him too?


End file.
